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XXV. Upon the Cultivation of the Carnation. In a Letter to the 

 Secretary. By Mr. William May, F. H. S. 



Read April 5, 1831. 



Sir, 



As it has long been a great object with the cultivators of the Car- 

 nation to discover how to overcome the many enemies it is beset and 

 very frequently destroyed by, as regards keeping it through winter 

 free from canker and mildew, and after that, protecting it from the 

 ravages of the wire worm, during its growing and blooming season, 

 I have not only studied most of the Treatises on the subject, but 

 adopted most of the plans I have seen recommended, but I have as 

 often failed. Having at length, after trying various experiments 

 during seven years succeeded in completely overcoming these dif- 

 ficulties, I now submit the following account of my practice to the 

 consideration of the Society. 



In the first place, beginning with the layers when first taken off 

 the parent plant in September, I immediately pot them, a pair in 

 each pot, small size, say forty-eights, which are sufficiently large ; pre- 

 vious to which I have as much soil prepared, as I may consider ne- 

 cessary, composed of one half old leaf soil, the other half, coarse pit 

 sand approaching to grit. Before placing them in the pots, I put a 

 handful of potsherds broken small into each, then fill the pot with 

 the above soil, so that it will admit the root of the layer or plant 

 within the rim of the pot, after which I place two layers in each pot 

 close to the side, and fill up with the same sort of soil, after which 

 I give a sufficient watering and place them, exposed to the mid- 

 day sun, in a frame which is filled with old tan, so that it will just 

 admit the pot and the plant to stand on the surface and not touch 

 the glass ; I then shut them close down and shade them for a few 

 days, until recovered, after which, air may be given daily by degrees; 



